


Hoshi And Clarence

by Keenir



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-14
Updated: 2006-03-14
Packaged: 2018-08-16 05:59:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8090194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: Hoshi has a pen pal. (04/12/2004)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: Reply to the Shakespeare Challenge. My Hoshi muse put her foot down [ow] and insisted that there not be any pain or hurt or anything worse than a paper cut in this.  


* * *

Hoshi returned to her quarters and sat down at the monitor. She sent the recognition request through the subspace transmitters. A connection was made with the Chat Rooms on Earth.

* _Logging on_ *

* _Enter Password_ *

Hoshi typed in SpeaksInTongues, followed by her password: 'I Am Babel, Midas'. Then she had to wait for the system to recognize her.

* _Access Verified_ *

* _tonSPEAKgues has logged on_ *

**There are 2 members in chat room:

**tonSPEAKgues

* _StayinHere_ *

tonSPEAKgues: Hello.

StayinHere: Merhaba. Hai. Hola. Buenos dias.

tonSPEAKgues: Getting better. But 'hai' is Japanese for 'yes', not 'hello'.

StayinHere: I was confirming my greeting you.

tonSPEAKgues: Oh.

StayinHere: .

tonSPEAKgues: Nice to see you too, Clarence.

StayinHere: Relativistically speaking.

tonSPEAKgues: Ha.

StayinHere: (?)omo arigato.

tonSPEAKgues: I'm not even going to reply to that.

StayinHere: .

StayinHere: You are continuing to be well?

tonSPEAKgues: Yeah, sure. Same old same old.

StayinHere: Did you not once tell me that you reside within a starship?

tonSPEAKgues: I do. And I did. Still do.

StayinHere: That is boring?

tonSPEAKgues: It can get dull.

StayinHere: The synonym of 'boring'?

tonSPEAKgues: The very same.

StayinHere: And yet you move.

tonSPEAKgues: Thank you, Galileo-san.

StayinHere: .

tonSPEAKgues: I've got an idea.

StayinHere: Whirled peas?

tonSPEAKgues: I had a feeling you collected bumper stickers from the old days.

StayinHere: No. But I see many re-runs.

tonSPEAKgues: Want to hear my idea?

StayinHere: Of course.

tonSPEAKgues: I think I might be able to convince my Captain to let me stop by and see you.

StayinHere: .

tonSPEAKgues: My, such excitement.

StayinHere: I am no Vulcan.

tonSPEAKgues: For which I am grateful.

StayinHere: It was not my doing irregardless.

tonSPEAKgues: Ha.

StayinHere: Hai.

tonSPEAKgues: That too.

StayinHere: .

tonSPEAKgues: So, mind telling me where you live?

StayinHere: .

StayinHere: .

StayinHere: .

StayinHere: Um.

tonSPEAKgues: If you don't want to, that's okay too. I'm

StayinHere: HERE!

tonSPEAKgues: sorry.

tonSPEAKgues: Oh. Thanks!!

Just then, there was a chiming of Hoshi's comm. "Yes?" Hoshi asked it.

"Could you come to the bridge a moment?" Captain Archer asked her. "We seem to have just gotten a message."

"I'm on my way," she said, and chimed off.

tonSPEAKgues: Have to go. Sorry. Duty calls.

StayinHere: My address.

tonSPEAKgues: I'll have to get it next time I'm here.

StayinHere: I sent it.

Hoshi made a mental note to check her email after leaving the bridge.

tonSPEAKgues: Okay. Talk to you soon?

StayinHere: There is never anything more to life than conferring with you.

tonSPEAKgues: Flatterer.

StayinHere: .

tonSPEAKgues: Okay. 'Later.

* _Logged Off_ *

* _Disconnected_ *

On the forward screen in the Bridge was a trio of things.

First was the mathematical equations, more complex than anything Hoshi remembered her sisters handling—and they majored in maths.

Second was a starchart, with stellar oddities—neutron stars and quasars—highlighted.

Third was a collection of circles following orbits around a stylized sun.

"I hate to say it," Hoshi said, "but I don't think I can translate those."

"They are all the same," T'Pol said, looking up from her station.

"Any idea who sent it?" Archer asked.

"None," T'Pol said.

Hoshi, on the other hand, remembered what Clarence had told her. "I think I might, sir," she told Archer. "But I'm surprised he sent it here," and this soon.

"A friend of yours?" Lieutenant Reed asked.

"Aoooh," Commander Tucker said, "I think she's blushing."

"No, I'm not," Hoshi insisted. "It's the—light on my skin." Hoshi told herself that she was hearing things: there was no way that T'Pol had just snorted disbelief.

"Do you think we should see this friend?" Archer asked, trying to remain above the fray.

Hoshi shrugged, trying to act casual. "If you think we should." She kept her gaze level. "Can I be dismissed, captain?"

"Sure thing," Archer told her.

Hoshi left the Bridge and headed in a beeline for her quarters. And back online...hopefully for some answers, she told herself.

* _Connected_ *

* _Logged On_ *

Still only two users in the room, Hoshi noted. Just her and Clarence.

StayinHere: Hail she whom hast returned.

tonSPEAKgues: I said I'd be back.

StayinHere: You are the moon and the stars. Always returning. Always sought. Always welcome.

tonSPEAKgues: Okay, now you're going a step beyond simply lathering me with butter.

StayinHere: My reaction is to be determined by you.

Hoshi raised an eyebrow, and tried not to blush.

tonSPEAKgues: Did you just send your address in math, stars, and orbital paths?

StayinHere: Si. Yes. Evet. Hai.

tonSPEAKgues: You didn't send it to my computer.

StayinHere: ?

tonSPEAKgues: You sent it to the Enterprise computer. Everyone on the Bridge saw it.

StayinHere: Is it to be ashamed of?

tonSPEAKgues: No, not really. I'm just surprised.

StayinHere: .

StayinHere: You had asked where I reside. I provided an answer.

tonSPEAKgues: So, when do I get to meet you?

StayinHere: When you arrive.

StayinHere: Expect me when you see me.

tonSPEAKgues: Galen the Technomage you're not.

tonSPEAKgues: But that brings up a good point.

StayinHere: .

tonSPEAKgues: How am I going to recognize you?

StayinHere: You will see me.

tonSPEAKgues: Do you have a picture?

StayinHere: I can send images.

tonSPEAKgues: Please? One of you.

StayinHere: ?

tonSPEAKgues: I'd like an image of you, if it's not too much trouble.

StayinHere: It would be no additional expended effort.

tonSPEAKgues: Thanks.

StayinHere: There is splendor in this view of Hoshi.

tonSPEAKgues: And now quoting Darwin. Thanks again.

StayinHere: Sent.

StayinHere: I need to nap. Speaking with you soon would be nice.

Then, there was the comm chime again. "Yes?" Hoshi asked.

"I think we need to talk," Archer said.

"I'll be right there," she promised.

tonSPEAKgues: Okay, it's a date.

As she logged off, Hoshi stared at the words she'd last typed in. They'd been chatting for over a month now, and this was their first date—in or out of cyberspace.

* * *

Hoshi took her lunch tray to an unoccupied table during her shift's meal. But her unspoken request for space went unheeded—Trip and Travis were quick to join her at her table.

"I'm not sure I'll ever understand you," Trip said.

"My loss," Hoshi said sarcastically.

"I'm serious now."

Hoshi said something—under her breath—unflattering in Japanese.

"We all saw you blushing," Trip said. "And then, when we saw that giant barnacle..." deliberately trailing off.

Hoshi didn't say anything.

"Didya know he was a shellfish?"

Remembering something her cousin'd once told her, Hoshi said, "On Earth, humans eat monkeys. On a number of worlds, human-like animals are the entrees."

"I'll bear that in mind," Trip said, not believing her.

"Actually, it's true," Travis said.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Um..."

"I'm not allowed to have friends, Commander?" Hoshi asked.

"I never said that," Trip said.

"Do I make fun of your friends, Commander?" Hoshi asked. "And, while we're on the subject, I don't recall you mocking our Captain about his obsession with a polymorphic nudibranch."

"A nude what?"

"A sea slug, Commander. A sea slug."

"We all saw you blush," Trip repeated. "That ain't just friendship right there. How exactly are you going to—?"

"Life finds a way."

"The Commander does have a point," Travis said.

"Right atop his skull," Hoshi snapped. She stood up, flipping the mostly-uneaten meal onto Trip before he could block it. And Hoshi left.

* * *

Back to her quarters. She resolved to stay right here until they arrived at Clarence's planet.

* * *

Now they were in orbit around the planet: Archer had commed her to tell her that, and that the planet had a strong magnetic field, and that field wasn't generated 100% by the planet itself—part of it was coming from the biota.

Hoshi logged back online.

StayinHere: The Prodigal woman returns. Good nap?

tonSPEAKgues: Yeah, vaguely.

tonSPEAKgues: You left out the fact that...

StayinHere: ?

tonSPEAKgues: You could have told me that you were a—a -

StayinHere: Alien?

tonSPEAKgues: Essentially.

tonSPEAKgues: I wouldn't have minded. Really.

StayinHere: Relief.

tonSPEAKgues: So...now that we're here...how do I find you in a crowd?

StayinHere: A crowd of what?

tonSPEAKgues: Of your people, silly.

StayinHere: I am my people.

tonSPEAKgues: ?

tonSPEAKgues: Not sure I understand.

StayinHere: I am my people. I sent an image of one part of myself.

tonSPEAKgues: If you don't mind my asking, how many of those 'parts' are you?

StayinHere: I encompass the globe.

tonSPEAKgues: One world, one mind?

StayinHere: In essence. Self-discussion was critical, prior to your communications.

tonSPEAKgues: Glad I could help.

StayinHere: In every way.

tonSPEAKgues: .

StayinHere: Are you going to visit the surface?

tonSPEAKgues: I...

StayinHere: Your safety is vowed.

Hoshi considered that as she looked at the screen. Clarence was waiting, patiently, for an answer.

tonSPEAKgues: Okay. I'll be down soon.

StayinHere: Anticipating highly anticipating.

Hoshi looked at the photo of one of her ancestors, a prominent statesman during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her namesake. "Was it easier to unify Iraq," she asked the silent picture, "or to understand the heart?"


End file.
